


What Rebecca did

by Port_in_a_Storm



Category: Emmerdale
Genre: Canon Compliant, Established Relationship, Fluff, M/M, Small brief mentions of harassment, Spoilers, supportive boyfriend
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-10
Updated: 2016-10-10
Packaged: 2018-08-20 14:56:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 988
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8253193
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Port_in_a_Storm/pseuds/Port_in_a_Storm
Summary: " ‘It’s no different to if a lad kept trying to kiss Vic but she said no,’ he said firmly. Robert’s shoulders dropped as he heard the truth in Aaron's words."
After Rebecca tries to seduce Robert, he immediately goes home to tell Aaron. His supportive response isn't what Robert expected.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Hi guys :) A short fic based on this prompt from a wonderful anon over on tumblr: Aaron’s reaction to Robert telling him what Rebecca did. Aaron being furious that she threw herself at him and pointing out that if wouldn’t be okay the other way around. Robert stopping him from going to her cos he just wants to forget it cos he’s upset that he thought him and Rebecca were friends and she insulted his relationship with Aaron and tried to come between them. And Aaron reassures him that they’re all good.
> 
> I tried to keep it as close to the prompt as I could. Hope you all enjoy

Robert let himself out of Home Farm. He straightened his jacket and tried to calm his breathing, which had picked up from anger and no small amount of shame. He had allowed himself to become interested, even if it was just for a split second, when she offered him half of Home Farm on a plate. He’d be lying to himself if he said he wasn’t tempted. But the thought made him feel humiliated: was he that willing to sell himself for a share in a business? Did his relationship to Aaron mean so little?

_Of course it doesn’t_ he told himself. He was a changed man. He had turned Rebecca’s offer down, and revelled slightly in the look of shock on her face. He got into his car and drove off, running the window down and letting the wind cool down his heated face. He was angry with himself, most of all. He should have realised that something wasn’t right. He should have been more adamant about his love for Aaron. He needed to tell him; if he respected Aaron at all, if he was truly serious about having a future with him, Robert owed him the truth. ‘Tell him and move on,’ he said to the empty car. He wasn’t going to keep this from him. He was worried about what Aaron would think, of course he was, but being honest now would cut out a lot of stress later on if Rebecca got it into her head to try and blackmail him for something. Plus, he and Aaron’s relationship was worth more to him than keeping a secret like this. They’d get through it like they always did.

Before he returned to the village proper, he texted his boyfriend to make sure he was home. He took a deep breath when he got a text back. ‘Quick and painless,’ he told himself. ‘Just tell him. We’ve been through a lot worse.’

He found Aaron in the back room of the pub, sitting to the table and eating a sandwich. ‘Hey, how’d it go?’ Aaron asked. 

Robert sat down. ‘Uh… not the way I expected.’

‘Why? Did she get the results back?’

‘We didn’t get to that,’ he admitted. He looked down at his lap, and then flicked his eyes to Aaron’s confused face. 

‘Right, you’ve lost me,’ the younger man said. ‘I thought that’s what you went there for?’

‘I did. It’s what I called her for.’ He swallowed. _Quick and painless_. ‘Aaron… okay, don’t freak out, okay?’

Aaron frowned. ‘You sayin’ that immediately makes me freak out.’ He said. He put his half-finished sandwich on the plate and pushed it away. ‘What’s happened?’

‘Okay, uh… Rebecca she—she came onto me.’

Aaron’s face immediately dropped. ‘She what?’

‘She tried to kiss me,’ Robert said quietly.

‘And you… did what?’

‘I told her where to go,’ Robert said with conviction. ‘Told her I love _you_ , but she kept tryin’ to kiss me. She even threw Home Farm into it—’

‘Did you sleep with her?’ Aaron said, sounding almost afraid to ask the question.

‘No! Aaron, I swear I didn’t!’

‘Okay.’ His eyes narrowed, going over the conversation again in his head. ‘Hold on, you said that she kept tryin’? Even when you said no?’

‘Yeah, but I didn’t let anything happen, Aaron, I swear.’

‘That’s not what I’m gettin’ at,’ Aaron said, shuffling on his seat in agitation. ‘You said no, Robert.’

Robert caught onto what his boyfriend was saying and he shook his head. ‘It’s different though, it’s not—’

‘It’s no different to if a lad kept trying to kiss Vic but she said no,’ he said firmly. Robert’s shoulders dropped as he heard the truth in his words. Aaron shook his head and jumped from his seat. ‘She needs to—’

Robert grabbed his arm. ‘Aaron, no. Come on, leave it.’ He pulled him back to the seat. ‘Leave it, yeah? I just—let’s just forget about this.’

‘Robert, she harassed you!’

‘No, she…’ he tailed off and rubbed his hands across his face. ‘Look, it doesn’t… let’s just leave it okay?’ He couldn’t form complete sentences in his agitation. 

‘You’re upset,’ Aaron said.

Robert marvelled at the ability of his boyfriend to read him so easily. He shrugged. ‘It’s not about that,’ he said. ‘She said some things about us as well, ridiculing what we have, talking about my sexuality.’

Aaron’s nostrils flared. ‘You sure you don’t want me to go sort her out?’

‘What, and get done for harassment yourself if she turns it on you or calls the police?’ Robert sighed. ‘No, just leave it, Baby. It’s not worth it. Just… let’s just forget about it, yeah?’ 

He didn’t say that there was a part of him that hoped—after his and Rebecca’s history—they could be something like friends. They had had something years ago. Nothing nearly as special as he and Aaron shared, and his head had still been turned by Chrissie when Rebecca was on the scene, but they had had a connection. ‘I was a different person when she used to know me,’ Robert settled on saying. ‘Back then, I wouldn’t have said no to her.’

‘That doesn’t excuse anything,’ Aaron said. 

‘No,’ Robert conceded. ‘We still need her for this Chrissie thing though, so let’s not let things get… edgy between us.’

Aaron shook his head, but sighed in defeat. ‘Fine.’ 

Robert reached a hand across the table and stroked Aaron’s bearded cheek, smiling when his boyfriend leant into the touch. ‘Thank you, though,’ he said. ‘It feels good to have you on my side, defending me.’ Aaron used Robert’s hand as leverage, and pulled himself closer to his boyfriend, kissing him softly.

Then, sitting back, he suddenly smiled and bit his lip coyly. ‘So… you turned down Home Farm for me?’

Robert grinned. ‘Well, it wasn’t really a choice. You’re all I need, after all.’

**Author's Note:**

> Come have a nosy on tumblr!: [Port in a Storm](http://www.portinastorm.tumblr.com)


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